World Record Tuna Caught by 12-Year-Old Angler

This 12-year-old girl from Nova Scotia smashes a world record for her age group.

“We should try to break the record because we’re capable of doing it, and we have a perfect place to do it too.”

These are the words of Jenna Gavin, a 12-year-old who set with her parents on their charter boat to do just that. The record she is talking about is for the youngest girl to catch a large tuna. The size she had to beat was 430 pounds. And one more thing, she had to do it alone.

With her parents and the crew only able to give advice and encouragement, Jenna was nervous. As she explained, “I was scared for when he bit. It was so amazing to feel his every move and to be able to get to feel him pulling with all his strength against you. I mean, it did hurt, yes it did, but it felt so cool.”

“It’s going to be worth it when you see this at the end.” said Jenna’s mother as the fight was getting close to the two hour mark.

When she finally landed the fish, she was surprised.

“Like, he was so big! Like, I mean, he didn’t weight that much, but he was really big!” she said of her 618-pound, record smashing tuna.

Under the terms of their license, her family is allowed to keep one fish every season to send to market. Her mother said Jenna will likely benefit from that fish in the form of braces.

“I got four packs of Mr. Noodles, and an iPad mini, and a lot of fame,” Jenna said with a laugh. What she has also got is the drive to be on top, as she has already said that if her record is broken, she looks forward to going out next year and doing it all over again.